I shouldn't say "finally," but Spring is here for sure now. The first tulips are open, the fruit trees are in full bloom, and the grass needs mowing!

So now there is color popping up all over the place, and that is what turns this place into one of the most beautiful places to be - in the spring and summer! The weather is warming up, the heater doesn't come on nearly as much, and I can be outside without being totally bundled up! Definitely not barefoot weather yet, but doable. Today I will do some weeding, which for me is quite therapeutic. The weeds are growing faster than the flowers and am thinking that some of them are quite pretty, so maybe should cultivate them, instead of the ornamentals! It would make my life simpler, for sure.

My trip south for my birthday week was absolutely one of the best! I felt so good, and I think part of that is that I am feeling so healthy! I did miss my water, though and the water in LA is SO bad that I had to resort to drinking bottled water, which just about kills me to do, knowing what I know about it. But it is a step up from the tap water.

Just spending time with family and friends is so important to me. And now I must fill out paperwork for a loan modification on this house and I have decided that if I can get the loan down to a reasonable amount, I will put a renter in here to cover it and then move down south somehow. Don't know how, yet, but it will figure itself out as I go ahead.

And when I do move, I will simply rent a truck, load the nuts and what I want to take in the back and kitties in the cab, hook the car up behind it and head south. It will mean finding a place to pack nuts, but I don't think that will be too difficult - if it comes down to it, we can use Ryan's garage.

MyMixedNuts relauch will happen in the next couple of weeks. It has been a long slog, getting the stuff redone, with the developers and designers getting flu in the middle of it and slowing things down. And also, for some reason, they were not "getting" what it is we are trying to do, but finally I think we are there. So the new pages should be live next week for testing, the wicked-pr will start the media blitz, which means for me, I will be packing a lot of nuts! They are planning to send out sample bags to at least 50 media outlets so I have to be prepared for that, and will have more details on Monday.

But it has been interesting as I learn more about SEO (search engine optimization) and all the internal linking within a site that makes it more searchable by google and other search engines. And once I have the new pages, it means a lot of content production, so I am going to be very busy.

But I am going to have to find more work, as my income is just not enough - at the moment it barely covers my expenses and this is not how I want to be living. I would love to be able to do the writing and photography sort of thing I was doing for Country Life, writing about the social upliftment programs and stuff like that in South Africa. It would be optimum to be working for a NGO that needed stories and pictures like that who would send me to do them. It always felt so good to be able to help - mainly the women - the way the articles helped, by bringing new business to them, and showcasing what they are accomplishing. Although I wasn't volunteering or contributing to them financially, I knew I was helping in other ways.

So I have my work cut out for me, but I love being busy and having a goal. Now, Hinckley, off my lap, time for me to get dressed, and out in the garden to soothe my soul.